'I was testing myself': Osaka outguns Linette to open Melbourne campaign

MELBOURNE, Australia - Playing her first Grand Slam match as a major champion, No.4 seed Naomi Osaka navigated her way past Magda Linette 6-4, 6-2 with a performance that showed off her increasing variety as well as brutal power.

The win avenged the US Open champion's 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 loss to Linette in the second round of Washington last July - a match that began a three-match losing streak for Osaka, which she would break by triumphing in New York.

The Pole, then, was a potential banana skin for a young player dealing with both sky-high expectations and the brand new status of a Top 10 seed at a Slam. But a focused Osaka passed the test with a cool-headed display, powering 30 winners and nine aces past Linette in just 58 minutes.

The World No.80 was certainly able to show why she had been able to trouble Osaka in the past. Linette may not possess her opponent's overwhelming force, but she is a gritty competitor who kept at the Japanese No.1's heels throughout and never allowed her to cruise. When the 26-year-old was able to survive Osaka's initial hammer blows, she would maintain a depth and consistency that forced Osaka to earn tough rallies with quality tennis.

The Indian Wells champion was more than equal to the task, though. Despite the heights she has recently scaled, Osaka is a player who is still improving rapidly with almost every outing. Today, her ever-diversifying repertoire produced sharp, patient point construction - two extended rallies in the third game paved the way to a first break of Linette - quick movement around the court and an unexpected love of the dropshot. (This tactic won Osaka the point on two of four occasions.)

"For me today I think it was more a test," Osaka admitted afterwards. "I think I was testing myself on how well I can move."

As for the finesse - it's something she's been working on quietly. "I have been practicing dropshots a lot just for fun," said Osaka. "I decided to play a few in the match because I think when I get in the position to... hit a winner, I think people start backing up anyways, so I think that in a way could also be considered a good shot to hit."

But as well as the expanded extras, the 21-year-old's core strengths were unshakeable. A loose fourth game enabled Linette to break back for 2-2 in the first set; thereafter, Osaka would concede just two further points on serve. Over the match, she would lose only one point behind her first serve - which, in the second set, proved untouchable as Osaka landed 78% of them.

As if Osaka's variety had honed her first-strike blitzes rather than the other way round, as the match progressed the youngest active major champion ramped up the pressure earlier and earlier in points.

"The first set I was more watching how she would serve," Osaka explained. "In the second set, I decided to step in more and see how she takes it. I thought that I played better being more aggressive, so I just decided to stay there after that."

Standing well inside the court to punish the Linette second serve, Osaka slammed six clean return winners and a host of brilliant inside-out forehand angles. There would be no trade-off in mistakes, either: as Osaka's aggression went up, her unforced error count shrivelled to a measly two in the second set. So high was her level at times that she made herself grin with the quality of her shotmaking.

Linette fought gamely until the end, the 2015 Tokyo (Japan Open) runner-up fending off one match point with a return winner of her own, but the newest star of the sport was simply superlative as she closed the match out to 15. Next up for Osaka is another 21-year-old, Tamara Zidansek, who defeated home favorite Daria Gavrilova 7-5, 6-3 in her Melbourne main draw debut.